Package for pies and the like



Feb. 14, 1939. Y M. P. AP -lN E l- 2,146,719

PACKAGE FOR PIES AND THE LIKE Filed July 28, 1936 lnventgrs fIfyrleBC'haphu 18+- 20 26 flldral dL-lhwg Patented Feb. 14, 19392,146,719

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PACKAGE FOR PIES AND THE LIKE Merle P.Chaplin, South Portland, and Richard L. Emery, Waterville, Maine,assignors, by mesne assignments, to The Canal National Bank of Portland,Portland, Maine, a national banking association of the 'United States,as trustee Application July 28,1936, Serial No. 93,008

Fig. is an enlarged vertical section through such band particularlyillustrating the manner 5 Claims.

This invention relates to packages for food articles, and although notrestricted to any particular article or class of articles, isparticularly designed to protect individual food articles, such as pies,against contamination and damage during transit and while on display.

In common with other packages designed for this same general purpose,necessary elements of our package are the conventional transfer plateinto which the pie is placed after it is baked and the usual transparentor other covering sheet for the upper surface of the pie.

Our invention however embodies certain improvements over existingpa'ckageapalrticularly in respect to the clamping band which retains thecovering sheet in position and which band, according to our invention,is so designed as to permit a plurality of packages to be safely stackedone above the other without damage to the pies, each band itselfproviding the sole support for a pie and its plate.

As a result of this construction the individual packages forming thestack may be interlocked with each other, through said bands, to form astable column in which each package is firmly locked to the packageabove and below it in such manner that the weight of the stack is nottransmitted to and cannot therefore damage the pie in any particularpackage.

Moreover the design of the band is such that it may be shipped in flatcondition to the baker and may be assembled with'the pie, plate, andcovering sheet with the minimum of time and trouble and withoutrequiring the use of special equipment.

In the accompanying drawing we have illustrated one embodiment of ourinvention which may be considered as typical of the principles involvedin the packaging of any article or class of articles.

In such drawing:--

Fig. 1 is a top plan view, partly broken away,

of a pie package in accordance with our invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical .section' through a pair of ourpackages particularly showing the manner in which they interlock witheach other when stacked.

Fig. 3 is a developement of the protective band in the flat form made upready for shipment.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevation of the band made up in annular formparticularly showing a preferred means for detachably fastening togetherthe overlapping ends of the band in position about the package, and

the pie plate and clamps the covering sheet in position over the pie.

For the purposes of this application we have shown a pie plate l0 havingthe unique protective and. reinforcing annulus of the Hart-ChaplinPatent No. 1,866,035 of July 5, 1932, although it will be understoodthat our invention is not restricted to use with such a plate but may beused with a conventional pie plate. We prefer, however, to use the plateof the Hart-Chaplin patent aforesaid on account of the superiorprotection which it offers to the edge of the pie.

As more particularly described in the Hart- Chaplin patent aforesaid,the plate comprises the bottom H, side wall I2, and rim 13 of theconventional pie plate together with a protective and reinforcingextension comprising the upwardly and outwardly disposed portion I 4,the generally horizontal portion [5, the downwardly and outwardlyinclined portion l6 and the horizontal outwardly extending terminal edgeor rim portion [1.

The pie or other food product P is supported on said plate 10' with itsedge disposed within and protected by said annulus l4, l5, l6, l1 and iscovered by the sheet S which is retained thereover by. having itsmarginal edge S drawn down over and around the rim ll of the plate andclamped in position by means of our improved protective and clampingband l8.

This consists of a strip of relatively tough maon a radius so as to giveit a frustroconical form when bent into ring form, the taper of the sidewall being indicated by the broken line 2| in Fig. 5. The strip is of alength sufficient to encircle and slightly overlap the particular sizeof pie plate to which it is to be applied and of a height greater thanthe total height of the pie plate, pie and covering sheet.

Intermediate of its height each band is formed. with a bead or rib l9,preferably outwardly disposed,'an'd forming an annularsupport or channel20, preferably of substantially half-oval shape, within which the outeredge ll of the pieplate and the marginal edge S of the covering sheetare received and retained.

The bands are pressed out of suitable stock venience of handling. Inorder to prevent the bead or rib Hi from losing its identityas such andhence fail to afford a sup-port of adequate terial as heavy paper orpaper board which is cut a in which the annular bead or rib thereofsupports in the wanted lengths and shipped flat for conv depth for thereception of the edge of the pie plate, the head or rib is slitted atspaced intervals as indicated at 22. When bending the band to an annularshape these slits 22 open up and permit the head or rib to take acircular form without collapsing or otherwise materially distorting fromits formed sectional shape.

Preferably although not necessarily the band has its upper or lower edgeor both of them made relatively stiffer than the body of the band. Ashere shown this is done by bending over one or both edges of the band asstiffening flanges 23 and 24, the flange 23 being bent inwardly and theflange 24 being bent outwardly. It will .be understood, of course, thatthis arrangement while preferable may be varied or in some casesomitted. The upper flange 23 assists in retaining the marginal edge S ofthe sheet within the support 20 (see Fig. 5). The lower flange 24bottoms on the outer surface of the rib or head I! (see Fig. 2) when thepackages are stacked.

The ends of the band may be overlapped and secured in any desired manneras by stapling, gluing or by means of a short strip of adhesive tape. Weprefer, however, to provide the band ends with some integrally formedtype of locking means, as for example, the locking tabs or tongues 25and 26 which coact with the locking slots 21 and 28 formed in the bandadjacent said tabs.

Referring to Fig. 3 it will be noted that the direction of the tabs 25and 26 is reversed as to each other and that each tab is provided with arelatively short locking notch'25, 26', which permit the tabs to befolded down fiat against the band when the band ends are interlocked asshown in Fig. 4 wherein tab 26 is lodged in the locking slot 21 and tab25 is lodged in the locking slot 28. Accidental disengagement of thetabs from the slots 21 and 2B is further prevented by the bending overof the flanges 23 and 24 upon the body of the band. As, shown in Fig. 4the break line of the upper flange 23 is at 29 and that of the lowerflange 24 at 30, these break lines being offset to each other so that inthe region of the overlapped band ends, these flanges also tend to holdthe tabs locked.

In assembling the package, the cover sheet is placed over the piesupported on the plate I 0. The band ends are interlocked as shown inFig. 4 and the band pushed down over the plate into the position of Fig.5. I

In forcing the band down over the plate and covering sheet, the edge ofthe plate tends to bend down, thus slightly decreasing its outsidediameter until the plate edge reaches the-support 20, whereupon saidedge returns to its normal diameter which is approximately the same asthe inside diameter of said support 20. In this action the coveringsheet is drawn fairly tautly over the face of the pie and is securelyheld between the edge of the plate and the support 20.

Various modifications in \structure, materials and uses may obviously beresorted to within the spirit and scope of my invention as defined bythe appended claims.

What we therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A package comprising a container adapted to receive a food product, acover sheet disposed ing flange adapted to'engage and assist inretaining the cover sheet within said support and having an upwardly andoutwardly turned stiffening flange at its lower edge adapted to rest onthe outer surface of the rib of a band next below when a plurality ofpackages are assembled in a stack, said upper and lower stiffeningflanges terminating at points which are offset relative to each othertransversely of the band and assisting to maintain the'interlock of thelocking tongues within the slots.

2. A package comprising a container having an outwardly extendingperipheral edge and K adapted to receive a food article, a cover sheetdisposed across the upper face of the food article with its marginaledge extending downwardly over the peripheral edge of the container,-and

a band assembled about the peripheral edge of the container and havingintermediate of its height an outwardly extending rib providing aninternal support within which the peripheral edge of the container andthe marginal portion of the cover sheet are received and retained, theupper edge of the band having an inturned flange engaging the marginalportion of the cover sheet for assisting in retaining saidmarginalportion of the cover sheet within said internal support.

3. A package comprising a container adapted to receive a pie, said.container having a horizontal rim and having an upwardly and outwardlydisposed rim extension enclosing the edge of the pie and terminating inan outwardly disposed peripheral edge, a cover sheet disposed acres theupper face of the food article with its marginal edge extendingdownwardly over the peripheral edge of the container, and a bandassembled about the peripheral edge of the container and havingintermediate of its height an outwardly extending rib providing aninternal support within which the peripheral edge of the container andthe marginal portion of the cover sheet are received and retained, theupper edge of the band having an inturned flange engaging the marginalportion of the cover sheet for assisting in retaining said marginalportion of the cover sheet within said internal support.

4. The package of claim 2, the band also having an outwardly andupwardly turned stiffening flange at its lower edge.

5. The package of claim 2, the band being of a length to overlap theperipheral edges of the container and the band ends being formed aslooking tongues and the band wall intermediate of its top and bottomedges having spaced locking slots adjacent the respective ends of theband adapted to receive said locking tongues.

IVIERLE P. CHAPLIN. RICHARD L. EMERY.

